Hollantex, the leading pan-African Ankara wax print manufacturer is pleased to announce the signing of superstar TV hosts Nancy Isime and Toke Makinwa as Brand Ambassadors.

As the new face of Hollantex, Toke Makinwa and Nancy Isime will be instrumental in growing the brand’s presence across Africa. They will support the development and launch of Hollantex’s new collections, leveraging their keen eye for fashion and ability to assemble show-stopping outfits to promote the brand’s beautiful patterns. Together they will showcase the true elegance of Hollantex’s Ankara fabrics for today’s leading woman.

“Toke Makinwa and Nancy Isime are a glowing representation of the African woman, who remains the muse behind some of the most colorful, diverse and intricate patterns of the Hollantex fabrics.” said Thomas Fournier, Founder of Hollantex. “We are inspired by their commitment to their craft and dedication to fashion. They are the perfect embodiment of the Hollantex brand and we see that everyday. From the sets of Nollywood’s biggest productions to the stages of the continent’s biggest events, you can always count on them to be graceful, classy and stylish”.

Commenting on her new role as ambassador of the Hollantex brand, Toke Makinwa said “

As a true fashion enthusiast, prints have always excited me. Hollantex fabrics are vivacious, colorful and full of life, working with this brand makes me feel confident that I can truly live my best printastic life while being bold and beautiful.”

Beginning in January, fans will get a glimpse into the collaboration through photos, videos and styles developed exclusively for this campaign.

About Hollantex

Hollantex is a leading Pan-African textile manufacturer providing high-quality Ankara fabrics. Since its creation in 2003, Hollantex has pursued a simple goal: to integrate traditional African culture into the heart of fashion, and to achieve this, innovative and high quality wax fabrics have been passionately created at competitive prices.

For further enquiries, please contact pr@hollantex.com or visit – www.hollantex.com

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Bunmi Adeniba, an experienced marketing professional and commercial operator with a strong bias for using consumer insights and her understanding of an end-to-end manufacturing process to harness value for multiple stakeholders, has been appointed as the new Marketing Director of Coca-Cola Nigeria Plc.

Prior to her current appointment, Mrs. Adeniba, the Acting President of Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), was the Marketing Director of Unilever Nigeria. She is also the Vice-President of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). The WFA Executive Committee brings together senior marketers and public affairs executives to reflect the dual mission of helping marketers be more effective and efficient in terms of their marketing spend, while helping brand owners protect and future-proof their license to operate through advocacy and effective advertising self-regulation.

Mrs. Adeniba has worked in several other FMCG companies in her career trajectory. She is a customer focused professional with broad spectrum, cross functional work experience spanning brand building, new products and category development, supply chain/quality management and quality systems set up.

Her ability to quickly understand, interpret and apply strategic directions is believed to be highly remarkable and commendable. She has a great disposition and is always willing to learn and share knowledge.

Mrs. Adeniba’s over two decades experience spans across brand building, innovation design, and quality management systems.

She has an MBA from Hult Business School, Boston and a certificate of Strategic Marketing Management from Harvard Business School, Massachusetts, USA.

She is a 2018 CSC Leader, a global programme for exceptional senior leaders selected from government, businesses and NGOs across the 53 countries of the commonwealth

Mrs. Adeniba is passionate about women empowerment and raising phenomenal leaders in the marketplace.

She has been recognised as one of the fifty Ladies in corporate Nigeria by Leading Ladies Africa and Brand communicator’s top 50 women in marketing and communication in Nigeria.

Mrs. Adeniba holds membership with the Institute of Directors (IOD), National institute of Marketing (NIMN), Chartered institute of Marketing UK (MCIM), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), and American Society of Quality (ASQ). She is a Certified Digital Marketing Professional (CDMP) from the Digital Marketing Institute.

This article was culled from Marketingedge.com.

Yolanda is a Chartered Accountant (CA SA) by training and holds

Cuba is passionate about improving the state of telecommunications in South Africa. She loves the field, as it provides the lifeline that emerging markets need to leapfrog their economic and social development. 

The seasoned strategist led Vodacom’s mergers and acquisitions as well as its acceleration unit into telco adjacencies such as financial services among others. Subsequently, Cuba was in 2016, made the Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Ghana, a role she outstandingly performed resulting in her scooping the coveted title of Telecom CEO of the year in 2018. The other notable awards under Cuba’s belt include; the Top Empowered Business Woman of the Year by Top Companies in 2006 and the Youth Excellence award by the Black Management Forum in 2007.

Cuba also previously served as an Executive Director of Strategy and Business Support at the South African Breweries (SAB) Limited since February 2012. She also previously occupied the position of Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer at New Bond Capital Ltd.

Cuba has served on a number of JSE-listed boards: She was a board member of South African Breweries Ltd; Absa Group Limited where she served for 12 years before resigning in 2019 and has been a member of the Nelson Mandela Investment Committee since 2006.

Cuba is passionate about education and inclusive social and financial development, has served on the Advisory Board of Stellenbosch University Business School and has founded Cuba Mtyi Foundation that focuses on empowering young Girls through Education. 

Her vision for Africa as a whole is to have digital and financial inclusion, with every child adequately educated so they are able to innovate and take full advantage of the digital world. 

The Leading Ladies Lady Spotlight Series is a weekly series that focuses on women of African descent, and showcases their experiences across all socio-economic sectors, highlights their personal and professional achievements and offers useful advice on how to make life more satisfying for women.

Do you know any woman of African descent doing phenomenal things? Send an email to lead@leadingladiesafrica.org and we just might feature her.

Yekemi Otaru, an inspirational entrepreneur renowned for her passionate commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion has been named University of the West of Scotland’s (UWS) Chancellor-elect.

Yekemi holds four degrees and has considerable industrial experience in engineering and marketing. She is Co-Founder and Executive Director at Doqaru Limited, a prominent Aberdeen-based sales and marketing consultancy.

Yekemi is also a board member of Interface, which connects a wide range of organisations from national and international industries to Scotland’s universities, research institutes and colleges, matching them with world-leading academic expertise to help them grow. A bestselling author and social media expert, Yekemi is also known for her innovative use of platforms such as LinkedIn.

Yekemi Otaru is the first woman of colour to occupy the prestigious position and as Chancellor, Yekemi will hold formal powers to confer degrees, diplomas and other academic distinctions, and will represent UWS at key events as an advocate and dignitary.

Dr Jackie Chimhanzi has been appointed as a Board Member of ONE, a global movement campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030.

Dr Jackie is the CEO of the African Leadership Institute, which runs the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship, in partnership with Oxford University, with the aim of nurturing a new generation of African leaders. She is driven by a desire to see a better Africa, in her lifetime.

In 2012, she was recognised by Forbes Africa magazine as one of the 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa – women under 45 shaping the narrative of Africa’s rising. In 2020, she was featured on the “100 Most Reputable Africans” list and in 2019, on the “100 Most Influential African Women” list.

She was, previously, the Senior Strategist of the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) and before that, as a Strategy Lead at Deloitte Consulting, she led project teams on diverse client engagements, interrogating and informing the strategies of major entities in the power, oil and gas, steel and brewery industries. Whilst at Deloitte, she was instrumental in setting up the Deloitte Africa Desk and advised clients on accessing opportunities on the African continent.

She is a member of the ONE Africa Policy Advisory Board and also serves as a non-executive board member and Audit and Risk Committee member of the AdvTech Group, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed entity in private education and Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. She is also the Chair of that Board’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Committee.

She holds a BSc (Hons), MBA (with Distinction) and a PhD (Strategic Marketing) – all from Cardiff Business School, UK. As an academic, she lectured and authored and co-authored papers in peer-reviewed leading academic journals and presented her work at various international fora. Her research focused on strategy implementation effectiveness. She is a 2010 Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow.

Congratulations on your appointment and wish you every success in your new role.

This article was culled from ONE

Madeline Swegle has made history as the US Navy’s first Black female tactical aircraft pilot.

Her completion of the tactical air training program paves the way for her to fly fighter jets such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter or the EA-18G Growler, according to the Navy Times. In 1974, Rosemary Mariner became the first woman in the Navy to fly a tactical jet. And in the 1980s, Brenda Robinson was the first African American woman to earn her wings of gold and become a Navy flight instructor, evaluator and VIP transport pilot, according to the non-profit organization Women in Aviation International.

On June 30, the Navy announced it created a special task force called “Task Force One Navy” to address the issues of “racism, sexism and other destructive biases and their impact on naval readiness.”.

The Navy has been criticized for the lack of diversity in its aviation programs. A 2018 investigation from Military.com found that Black pilots were rare in the service, especially in fighter units. Just 1.9% of all pilots assigned to the F/A-18 Hornet, EA-18 Growler, E-2 Hawkeye and C-2 Greyhound were Black. Out of 1,404 Hornet pilots, just 33 were female and 26 were Black. Women also make up a small percentage of aviators in the service. As of 2018, the Navy had 765 female pilots, less than 7% of all pilots across the ranks, according to the Pensacola News Journal.

Madeline Swegle recently completed the service’s Tactical Air (Strike) training program in the T-45C Goshawk. The milestone certifies Swegle, a Naval Academy graduate, the first known Black woman who has been certified for the TACAIR mission, and she could go on to fly other fighters and will receive her Wings of Gold later this month.

Culled from Military.com

As part of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences A2020 initiative of increasing the number of women of color in its team. The Academy has announced the invitation of 819 artists and executives from 68 countries to join the organization this year. 45% of the new members are notable women of colour and on this groundbreaking list is also our very own Genevieve Nnaji, Nigerian-born British actress, Cynthia Erivo, and others.

In 2016, as part of its A2020 initiative, the Academy promised to at least double the number of women and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities by this year.

Genevieve Nnaji’s Movie Lion Heart was nominated at the most recent edition of the Oscars in the category of Best International Film but was later dropped as a contender for the award.

@genevievennaji had tweeted in response to the invitation “I’m honored to be a member of the family. Thank you @TheAcademy !!”

@cynthiaerivo is also an English actress, singer, and songwriter who had earlier been nominated for two Academy Award for Best Actress ctress and Best Original Song.

Having exceeded its A2020 goals, the Academy now shifts to a new diversity initiative for the next five years, Aperture 2025, which will use Oscar eligibility as a wedge to encourage Hollywood producers and executives to follow inclusion standards set by the Academy, or risk not being Oscar eligible.

The Academy is a global community of more than 9,000 of the most accomplished artists, filmmakers and executives working in film.

We heartily celebrate and congratulate these trail blazing African Women whose excellence has contributed to the breaking of this barrier and longingly look forward to other gender, ethnic, racial and similarly sponsored limitations being quashed soonest.

Congratulations to these ladies! More wins on Inclusion and Diversity ?

Netflix has appointed Bozoma “Boz” Saint John to be its new Chief Marketing Officer. She leaves Endeavor, where she has served as CMO since 2018. Jackie Lee-Joe, who held the position, is leaving the company for personal reasons. Said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos:

“Bozoma Saint John is an exceptional marketer who understands how to drive conversations around popular culture better than almost anyone. As we bring more great stories to our members around the world, she’ll define and lead our next exciting phase of creativity and connection with consumers.”

Saint John’s nearly 20-year career spans multiple industries including music and entertainment, consumer packaged goods, fashion, sports and automotive. Prior to Endeavor she worked at Uber as Chief Brand Officer; was Head of Global Consumer Marketing for Apple Music and iTunes (including iTunes movies, iBooks and Apple News), and before that head of the Music and Entertainment Marketing Group at Pepsi-Cola North America.

BozomaSBozoma John says: “I’m thrilled to join Netflix, especially at a time when storytelling is critical to our global, societal well-being. I feel honored to contribute my experience to an already dynamic legacy, and to continue driving engagement in the future.”

The exit of Lee-Joe is an amicable one, and on her, Sarandos said that “Everyone at Netflix is grateful for Jackie Lee-Joe’s contributions and we wish her all the best.”

Said Lee-Joe: “I’m so proud to have led this team and all that we have achieved together during such an extraordinary time, fostering conversations about our films and shows that brought people together all around the world. I wish everyone at Netflix all the very best.

Culled from Deadline

Photo Credit: Instagram

Black Girl Sunscreen — launched in 2016 — creates products with a focus on melanated skin (no white cast!) and thanks to a female investor, is now valued at $5M.

According to esthetician Nayamka Roberts-Smith — Black Girl Sunscreen is a trusted go-to. Founded by Shontay Lundy, Black Girl Sunscreen offers one primary product — its ultra-sheer, vegan SPF 30 sunscreen infused with natural ingredients including avocado, jojoba, aloe, cocoa butter, and carrot juice. With its indie success, the brand recently secured a $1 million investment from a private female funding source, reports Forbes.

The new infusion of capital increased the beauty company valuation to $5 million.

“We created a groundbreaking product for an underserved market that resonated with our community,” she said. “Black Girl Sunscreen brought awareness and shifted a mindset around people of color wearing sunscreen.”

Though the health crisis has forced several minority-owned brands out of business, Lundy and her five-person staff were determined to “be very nimble to survive this.” Additionally, her advice to fellow owners is to search for resources.

“My advice for other minority businesses looking for funding is to take advantage of grants and available resources, participate in pitch competitions to learn how to sell your business and gain exposure, have buttoned-up financials; and put yourself in environments to meet investors/high-net-worth individuals,” Lundy said.

You can purchase the anchor item or sunscreen for kids online or in over 200 Target stores.

Culled from Afrotech

Photo Credit: Instagram

Suzan Mutesi is changing the status quo for the younger generation by writing about transformational stories of personal discrimination and hardship into a book they can turn to and derive comfort from.

Susan Mutesi born in Uganda, moved to Australia and since then has been working tirelessly to build her career and a community both online and offline she can uplift. Susan started as a fashion designer and dressing local talent.

She segued in to acting, singing, modelling. Mutesi’s passion for music, acting and modelling is geared towards empathy, compassion, truth and love and that’s expressed in every art form she use. She recently released her first book- Unapologetically Black: Afro Sisters.

The book derives its narrative from her personal experiences, facing racism in and outside of the arts and modelling world, the release of her book in 2020 is significant as it has been four years in the making, and lends itself as an especially timely reminder to the next generation to embrace their difference, whatever that may be.

From a lack of opportunities available to Black actors on Australian television, to the need for greater representation and inclusivity within the fashion world, Vogue meets Mutesi to discuss career highlights, shortcomings in the industries she is a part of and the important takeaways she hopes readers will gain from her book. Read the full interview here

Culled from Vogue